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MolotDET
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« on: September 27, 2002, 06:35:54 pm » |
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MonoU Trix Mini Primer: by MolotDET
Let me start by telling you why I got into playing monoU trix. My meta-game boasts a lot of Sligh, Keeper, U/r Phiddian and Combo, as well as a smattering of just about every other archetype, plus some random rogue decks. I am a Keeper player by nature. And so, have been having problems dealing with all the hate that has been deservedly coming my way. Also the meta-game has been seeing a lot of combo lately. And so, sideboards have been changed to reflect that. As most cards that are brought in to hate combo are just as good at hating Keeper, I found myself in a dilemma. How do you win in a field where you have been hated out? I know some of the Keeper players at Gencon were asking themselves the same question this summer. The answer is not that Keeper is dead, but that it needs to evolve. So as I am evolving my Keeper, I want a new deck to play.
By nature, I always have a few decks that I am toying with, using new cards and mechanics and such. Since almost a year ago I have been toying with bringing the 1.5 monoU Trix deck into type 1. The choice to play mono blue rather than the more established four or five color variants was made because those multi color Trix decks give up control of the game for a third or fourth turn kill with one counter backup. While this would be good verses a field of aggro, it would not be optimal against combo, Keeper, monoB, artifact decks and monoU.
The main problem with the 1.5 deck is that it was not fast enough to become a force in T1. Adding a set of moxen and a lotus was of course the first step. Now the deck accelerates but getting the combo pieces faster is necessary. Enter some more restricted goodness in the form of card drawers. Getting Illusions out and keeping it there to combo needed to be worked out, so more counterspells are added. Board control of a sort has to be maintained to even be able to think about winning. So powder kegs and Capsize are maintained from the 1.5 deck. Sapphire charms are removed now that they are no longer needed to produce acceleration.
This leaves me with a 75+ card deck. That is not exactly streamlined enough to be any type of a force in T1. After months of kicking this thing around I think I finally hit it in just about the right spot.
DETrix
Combo
3 Illusions of Grandeur
3 Donate
Draw/Search
2 Intuition
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Timewalk
2 Deep Analysis
1 Timetwister
1 Cunning Wish
1 Mystical Tutor
2 Merchant Scroll
4 Accumulated Knowledge
1 Gush
Utility
2 Powder Keg
Counters
2 Mana Leak
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
2 Misdirection
Mana
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus
5 solo moxen
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Tolarian Academy
1 Stripmine
14 Island
SB:
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Stroke of Genius
2 Cursed Totem
2 Ensnaring Bridge
3 Back to Basics
2 Blue Elemental Blast
2 Divert
1 Psionic Blast
1 Capsize
The best thing about this deck is that it has maindeck tech against just about every archetype. Also, while it strives to combo, it does not forget about the game that is being played in the here and now. Being more of a combo control deck, DETrix cannot out race other combos, but it can keep them from going off first with its superior number of counterspells.
The Cards:
The strength of monoU is counter ability and card drawing. Most Blue decks will accomplish this using Ophidians to draw lots of extra cards and running an overwhelming number of counters in the deck. Had I ran Phids in this deck I would be playing Forbiddian and not Trix so I opted for different cards.
Intuition/Accumulated Knowledge: I went with this over Impulse because I wanted to have the cards in hand rather than on the bottom of my library and because I could get the missing combo piece in hand at instant speed, rather than whatever the four cards of my topdeck offered. AK is also tech against mono Black which is one of your bad match-ups. So, I figured that strengthening the maindeck, to give a viable game one win, was best.
Timetwister: with no graveyard recursion available, outside of artifacts, like Feldon’s Cane, or Recall. I needed a way to get Combo pieces back. I believe it to be better than these because it will fill your hand as well. I do not often like filling my opponents hand, but since most aggro are not really a problem anyway, this should be worth its downside.
Mystical Tutor: The topdeck tutor. Aside from grabbing Ancestral or one of the big AKs, Mystical acts, sort of, like a fourth Donate. Since it can fetch nearly every spell in the deck, I felt it was a must have.
Merchant Scroll: Originally I ran the deck with just one Scroll. The second’s spot was taken up by the Stroke. I found the Stroke to be too mana intensive and either: sat in hand waiting to be cast and ended up being pitched, or was cast for a maximum of 2 or 3 cards. The second Merchant scroll can get Ancestral faster and/or the big AK.
Cunning Wish: After much deliberation, and a little help from Cividel, I decided to use wish tech in my side board. Because cards like: Fact or Fiction and Stroke of Genius were not good in the main deck, didn’t mean they were bad cards. After moving a few cards in from the side I was left with a 5 card hole in it. Knowing what I needed was going to be all instants, the wish made sense.
Powder Keg: I was going for a slower game and knew I was playing more of a control deck. With blues inability to do anything to permanents other than return them to hand, I knew I was going to have to use a lot of the same cards as other monoU decks. Keg is one of the best cards out there, as far as dealing with many of the things that cause problems for Trix.
Deep Analysis: I know I’m going to take heat for this one but, these were in the sideboard, as tech against mono black. I was going to fill these two spots with Wastelands but since my worst matches are among mono colored decks and that was what I was trying to strengthen against, there was no need for them. So, as I was making my sideboard more wish friendly I took these two out. When I made it back to the maindeck and found the two empty spots and puzzled over what to put in, I found them sitting there. What it needed against monoU was more reliable card drawing and more counters in hand. Though game one was not an auto-loss against blue it was vs. black. The two DAs are great against black since you cast them from the grave more often anyway. They also had the funny ability, combined with the wish and the second Merchant Scroll, of giving me counters in had more often. Thus this strengthened my Trix against both decks. While I could have put other spells in their spot, nothing would have done the job of strengthening and drawing cards, as well(meaning in addition to and as good as). The fact that they are cheeply cast from the grave at 1U and 3 life is a red herring against Blue because you can get them to fight a counterwar over it and then cast the combo unimpeaded, whether I get the cards or not.
Gush: In many cases D.E.Trix runs through its card drawing fairly quickly, leaving you with 20 or so cards in the deck. On occasion, It also experiences bad mana flooding and many times, after Timetwister, it ends up being down a few drawing spells (namely the Deep Anals). To try to remedy this, I have removed 1 Island for a Gush and another for a Sol ring. Thus far in testing this has worked out, but it remains to be seen how well.
Mana Leak/Force of Will/Mana Drain/Misdirection: The obligatory counterspells. Of course Force and Drain were must haves and if you are going to run more counters than that, MisD is always quick to follow. I wanted more than just that though. I found Mana Leak fits this deck well. I usually don’t like it but with the addition of the moxen, I found myself with one U and one off color mana on a lot of first turns. The vanilla Counterspells that I was using at the time were most infuriating, because with only one blue mana they were more often pitched to something else than cast. Trying every other counter that made sense first was a daunting task. Leak is a great early game spell and is a slap in the face, when it is the second or third counter you cast in a war.
Moxen/Lotus/Sol Ring: Without needing to be said these are the best mana accelerators in the game. The early or late game explosiveness is absolutely a must in this deck. Without heavy dependence on colored mana, monoU Trix can use a full set of Moxen rather than just the on color sapphire. Sol Ring is another story. It was hard to take out after I added it. Most control based decks run Sol and this deck loves the boost it provides.
With the mana base set at 25 sources I was running Sol as the 61st card. The inconsistency of 61 cards drove me crazy until I dropped an off color Mox for it. Eventually I realized that a 0cc that produces 1 mana is better than a 1cc that produces 2, the Mox had better synergy with Mana Leak and I could not replace Island #16 with the Sol. So, Sol Ring was not included, but has since replaced an Island, to cut down on late game land draws.
Library of Alexandria: LoA was a hard choice. As one of three non-basic lands in the deck, LoA is going to be wasted with regularity. The card boost it can give is well worth it, even if it is only one or two. With all the drawing this deck does, LoA is in complement to it. After much testing I found that it was still great, though it did seem to give the deck a weakness. In some instances you would rather have drawn an Island, but this is only when the game is so far gone that only the perfect topdeck would help you win.
Tolarian Academy: Again the weakness of giving targets to wastelands is balanced by the mana boost that this land provides. Dropped at the right time, Academy provides you with enough mana to combo and hard cast a counter. Also it is tech against combo decks that rely upon the Academy.
Stripmine: I ran this deck with no mana disruption before and got eaten alive by decks using LoA, Bazaar, Port, Dust Bowl, Wastes/Strip, and Academy. Perhaps this is not enough disruption but I can’t seem to find anything to cut for wastes.
Fact or Fiction/Stroke of Genius: They got moved to the side because I found I was unable to cast them early in the game and by the time I reached the mid-game they were, most of the time, no longer useful. Still I wanted to have them available, because other than the CCs being nice to dump drain mana into, they are damn good spells. So, when the side board slots opened up and I was adding wish tech, they were the first spells I though of.
Cursed Totem: I have always told people, “if you have room in your sideboard, Totem works really well at shutting down Morphlings and Phids.” Well when testing this deck I found that monoU was among my worst match-ups. Since I didn’t have the availability to the colors that have cards to deal with these creatures, I thought I would take a little of my own advice. Totem also helps against a wide range of creatures like: Mox monkey, welder, dwarven miner, feeder, and almost the whole horde of Artifact creatures. I think Totem has not caught on widely because it takes a lot of room in the side. Of course in a deck where your options are limited and your bad match-ups are also limited, you have to make the room.
Ensnaring Bridge: The deck and side were set, than I ran into my first monoB deck, since the revision. I somehow won game one, and sat there for a few moments and realized that nothing in the side was of real help in this match. Knowing that Negators would be coming in to replace the shades, Totems were worthless. The advent of Divert and Vision Charm helped a little, but these were not optimal against Black. Needless to say games 2 and 3 were losses. I looked back at my Keeper and found the bridge in the side. So this replaces one of the Totems. While with only one in the deck and no way to search for it, Bridge was not a powerhouse. After adding the second to the sideboard it afforded a little extra sanity. At least I know, black wont be countering it.
Back to Basics: I actually take flack for not running these main. The problems are: that there is really no room for BtB main and they are dead vs. most decks. I hate having wasted cards in the main-deck and since they were not good against any of the problem matches, they were bound for the sideboard. Note that if I were going to NGNY to play I would most assuredly have these main. The other thing is that multicolored decks are less problematic match-ups, so having that much maindeck hate against them is overkill. These are better to lock up game two and/or three.
Blue Elemental Blast: Since Red Elemental Blast is in the sideboard or every deck that can support them and most Sligh run 8 in their side, it became necessary to be able to counteract that. What started as 6 BEB became 4, because I found that the counter base I had was already almost adequate. This number dropped to 3 when I found that Divert acted almost like a BEB against Sligh and was better to have in the side against U/r Phiddian and Forbiddian. So the number ended up droping to 2.
Divert: This card cost me a few games against a Phid deck that was running them. I figured whatever works for them can work for Trix as well. Divert became an awesome side-board card to have with the wish tech, and against Sligh as well. Eventually the second one replaced the fourth BEB.
Psionic Blast: Blast was considered but it almost never won games. Against decks that can gain life, 4 damage is nearly never enough and multiple blasts are not even an option. But, against decks that pay life for things like drawing cards and such, Psiblast becomes a potent weapon. Eventually I ended dropping the third BEB for this.
Capsize: The instant speed kill it provides is absolutely necessary against some decks. Also there are some problem permanents that sometimes just need to go. Originally I considered Capsize cost prohibitive. It was removed from the main deck and ended up being removed from the side before I worked in the wish. Hoodwink took it’s place in the side at this point. Wink was only good as an instant kill, it didn’t give the flexibility to rid me of every problem that arose. Though I still hate the cc Capz is needed, and I found that by the time I can wish for it, I can cast it with buyback.
Cut Cards:
So as I said above I had something like a 75 card deck and it had to be cut down. Most of the choices were easy to make. While some cards seemed like they belonged, until they no longer fit the mold.
Hoodwink: I needed a replacement for Capsize. The instant speed kill it provided was absolutely necessary against some decks. Also there are some problem permanents that sometimes just need to go. Capsize was cost prohibitive. Hoodwink worked just as well to that end. So it got the Capz place. At least that is what I thought. The problem became that I did need the ability to return creatures as well. I forgot about Grow. While I did do a lot of testing against grow, that took place during the beginning of the testing. Since then I found that I really didn’t need a bounce spell, but felt I should have one in case some of those trouble enchantments got out, but I forgot about the need to bounce Dryads when they got too big.
Frantic Search/Time Spiral/Windfall: These draw7’s and Frantic were among the first cards to go. While they allow for stunning come form behinds and can fill your hand quite nicely, the chance element is not something a combo/control deck likes. Timetwister is considered a necessary evil, because of it’s low cc and recursion ability. None of these cards made that cut.
Recall: This card enjoyed its place in the fifteenth sideboard slot until it was removed when the wish tech was moved in. Perhaps this was a mistake, but that has not been exhibited thus far.
Brainstorm/Impulse: These cards were removed for the more powerful restricted drawing spells, and because I was more pleased by the Intuition/AK engine. When I was moving FoF and Stroke to the side I toyed with bringing them back, but as I ended up with only three spots I figured that Impulse would not make me stronger against my problem match-ups and I hate Brainstorm.
Sapphire Medallions: These were removed for the new matrix of moxen. They never made it back into the deck (even though they were suggested by quite a few people). Personally I think they are too slow for a serious T1 deck.
Brain Geyser: Though this is awesome card drawing, it couldn’t find a home here. It was maindeck originally, but was removed in favor of another Mana Leak and I have never regretted its parting.
Teferi’s Response: I had one copy in the deck. After removing Geyser I really didn’t want to remove another potential drawing spell. After keeping some notes of how often Response was useful, I realized that the logistics of having it, and a land to protect with it, were not very good at all. It almost made the wish tech sideboard, but lost that place to Divert.
Mana Crypt/Mana Vault/Grim Monolith (Power Artifact): As far as Vault and Crypt go, I felt that the loss of life, while easily affordable, was not a good idea. I toyed with the idea of the Monolith/Power combo for a while, but found that the deck had no room for it.
Washout: I toyed with this in the side for a while. They are quite good for mass removal against aggro, but they were not as good against monoU as Totem, nor as good as Bridge against black.
Disk: Disks are nice. A strong case for them can be made when speaking of Artifact decks, Void (or any monoB), Aggro, or even monoU. They lend enchantment removal, which monoU Trix is sorely lacking, but at the cost of speed. I believe their cc and the turn wait make them prohibitive but they may be worth the shot.
Mirari/Tinker: This combo had it’s merits when I play tested it. I came up with some interesting combinations and it did make the deck stronger to a certain extent. Problem was that it made the deck weaker against the decks it was having problems with.
Necropotance/Yawgamoth’s Bargain/Yawgamoth’s Will/Duress/Demonic Tutor/Enlightened Tutor/REB/Abeyance: This covers the gamut of multicolored Trix decks and those with transformational sideboards. IMO going mono-colored shores up many of the weaknesses of these other decks. Screwing you mana base for a possible turn or two, faster kill is not even an option. The problem with 4 or 5 color Trix in T1 is that it is too easily disrupted, and with nearly every archetype running some kind of disruption and the mono-colored decks running lots of it, multi-color versions are going to be taking extra hits. While I won't scream B2B as a good reason to stay mono-colored, might I shout: Blood Moon, Wasteland, Dwarven Miner, Mox monkey, Null Rod or Powder Keg. All common cards, all can fuck the multi-colored mana Base. Any decks that pack Keeper hate maindeck and/or sideboard will have plenty of things to make you scream "B2B!" Also on this note I get to run B2B, so those things that fold to nonbasic hate, do just that. Multi-color Trix decks usually run something like 28 mana producers, so you are drawing more (as in quantity) useful cards in the mono version.
Multi-variants own most aggro but any version of Trix will do very well against aggro. Trix's problems crop up while playing against: Keeper, any mono black, mono blue, Artifacts, and other combo decks. So what you are trying to do with monoU, is shore up are the control and monoB matches, to which the multi-colored versions will bow. Also when pitted against another combo deck, with multi-color it is basically "whoever goes off first." By going MonoU and being a more combo/control deck, you eliminate their ability to "go off" before you let them.
With multi-colored Trix, you end up running 2 or 3 extra colors to support a very few cards of any of those colors. While Necro and Bargain have great drawing power, they are mana intensive, which means you should run Dark Rituals to support them. MonoU stabilizes you against your problem match ups, and your deck is filled with useful cards, rather than an enormous combo engine.
The worst part about multi colored Trix is that basically, you are running an Academy Decklist with a different kill condition. While you are changing your kill, you are not strengthing the deck against the problem match-ups. Also all the draw7 effects leave too much to chance. Filling your opponents hand is not good unless it is absolutely neccesary. While Memory Jar is a great card, it comes with a hefty price tag and you run Tinker to back it up.
The best things about using black in the deck are Duress, Yawgwill and YawgBargain. MisDs and Mana Drains work just as well as Duress and in most cases have the side effects of speeding up your mana and, god willing, your drawing.
Yawg Bargain is a great card, and in this deck could be concidered an autowin, if you can get it into play. As I said the problem is, that it forces you to run Dark rituals and all those excess Tutors and Mana producers to insure that you can cast it, let alone force it into play and protect it. And it makes the Mana Leaks in my deck look even better.
Yawgwill is another great card, and if you can cast it you should be able to win. But, if you could cast yawgwill you could have just as easily cast any other spell. With monoU Trix the cards are in your hand and not in your graveyard, where Toramonds crypt is the game. Also splashing Black just for this card is covered under, "why you don't screw your mana base."
RedEblasts main is just so bad, because they are useless against anything but Blue. Now while that is a bad match-up, it makes it worse when you play black. While REB is good against BtB, it is not against Blood Moon, and staying mono-colored makes these points moot. Also since D.E.Trix has a bigger counterbase that multi-colored decks it doesn't need to run semi-usefull cards.
Abeyance is the one card I wish I could still run. But in looking at that, if you could cast this you could win already and since I have removed the randomness of the draw7s, I no longer need it. Also, splashing a fourth color for another tutor, Abeyance and whatever you can put in you sideboard seems ludicrous. Of course the best point is that, If I wanted to have these problems I would be playing Keeper and would be better prepared for them, at that.
I toyed with a transformational sideboard, but being monoU the best deck to transform into was Forbiddian. But I found that the decks that this would work well against were the decks I should beat anyway. Though this would make it stronger after SB against monoU in particular it made it weaker against monoB, which is the worse of the two match-ups.
Basically, Consistancy makes the mono version better.
Match-ups:
Against Sligh: The Trix combo itself is tech against sligh. While sligh is striving to deal out the twentieth point of damage by turn 4 or 5, you just stay alive until you can drop Illusions and gain 20 life. Your mana base is fairly safe in this match-up only LoA and the Academy are truly susceptible to disruption. Countering Mox monkeys becomes a little annoying but that is the price you have to pay. In any event, game one should be yours.
Funny thing is that Sligh sides out burn spells to bring in all those blasts. So, that slows it's kill down and gives me more time to work.. Side-boarding against Sligh is just a matter of bringing in your BEBs/Diverts and being a little more careful what you waste your counters on.
Against Artifact Aggro (Stacker, Tools and Tubbies, Funker and Mask): I haven’t tested much against any of these decks. I would take what is set up in the “Breaking Down the Artifact Invasion” thread, and count this as monoU. On the other hand I give Trix a slightly better match-up against these decks because it can gain lots of life. The only one of these decks I have tested against, more than a few games, is Stacker and I have done fairly well against it. In theory I think the worst mach-ups among these would be Tubbies. Though with the limited amount of testing I did against it has not pointed to the fact that it could be considered a bad match-up.
Against Random Aggro (Stompy, WW): Out racing these desks is a little easier than Sligh, since they do not attack on two fronts (i.e. with creatures and direct damage). Since Stompy, in particular, puts out fatties, it tends to make you careful about how you spend your counters. Also WW tends to run quite a few disenchant effects, so once again you have to be careful with reguards to what spells you counter. These decks have little more to offer after side-board except that WW may be packing more disenchant effects. The only things I have brought in from the side against these decks are the Cursed Totems and these are only situational, as they might not be more useful than Kegs, depending on the creatures being played.
Against Keeper: Established dogma is that, if you can out counter Keeper, out draw Keeper, make some of its cards worthless, and screw it’s mana base, than you have already won. While I do not agree with this totally, it does seem to make a certain amount of sense. By making 3 of its cards worthless (The Abyss, Chainers Edict, StP) and another 2 of only limited use (Fire/Ice, Balance) you gain a foot up, because not only are these cards no good against you but 4 of them are not pitchible. Also more than two wastelands are not useful against you. So add to that list 2 or 3 more useless cards. Zorb makes this a little tricky for you, but I noted the ability to combo more than once in a game usually wins out against Keeper. As with Sligh, counter the Mox monkey in the early game.
After side-board Keeper is going to be packing quite a few redEblasts at no cost to it, because it just removed all those useless cards I mentioned before. But, you are going to be packing the 3 Back to Basics and blueEblasts from yours. Early BtB is pretty much the win, but I you fail to combo with in a few turns of it, don’t be surprised if you lose. Once Keeper gets out from under the BtB it will be packing all the cards it needs to win in only a few turns.
Against Combo: Trix is possibly the slowest combo deck you will ever play. The difference between trix and other combos is that you have absolutely no shot at going off turn 1, even turn 2 would be a stretch (though possible with the right cards), and seven mana, three specific cards in hand and another blue card in hand, by turn three is a logistical nightmare. When you are playing monoU trix you are giving up the raw speed of combo to gain board control, and I'm not talking about just the first two turns. DETrix allows board control throughout the match.
So, when you are pitted against another combo deck you must proceed with caution. Know exactly what to counter and the game is in hand.
Against MonoU: The only worse match-up you have is against monoB. MonoUs strengths against you are that it draws as many cards and it out counters you. Kegs are not a good defense against MonoUs creatures, especially once they are already out. I am speaking specifically about Forbiddian, U/r Phiddian for some reason is not as problematic nor are bad monoU builds. The good news is that Forbiddian is often running 3 wasted BtB in it’s maindeck, while your kegs are only situation ally wasted. Playing against monoU takes the most concentration out of all your match-ups. Knowing what and when to counter is learned only after much testing. The Cursed Totems are in the side for this match-up, and actually make it easier to deal with after sideboard.
Against mono Black (Suicide, Nether Void, and Pox): These are some of your worst match-ups. While AK/Intuition is tech against discard, it doesn’t lend enough to the mix. The maindeck needed more strength against monoB. While I had Deep Analysis in the side, and was building the wish-tech sideboard, I moved them to the maindeck and have never regretted it. So out of these three, Void, is actually the worst as it deprives you of cards and mana, and then makes you pay more per spell. Countering anything that produces 3 mana on first turn is tech against any monoB deck, unless you have nothing in hand to protect. Out racing any of these decks, as with any control or combo strategy is usually just the luck of the draw.
Post side-board, you can expect the Negators and probably null rods, if they weren’t in the main, while you are bringing in the 2 Ensnaring Bridge, 2 Divert and the Psionic Blast. This is still a top deck war, and whoever’s is better will win but you are stronger against monoB than any other monoU deck.
Against Grow:- As ironic as this may sound, since Grow was built to beat Trix in 1.x, Gro is not a match-up that you should fear in the least. Game 1 should be a victory for you because kegs in the mani deck are a pretty good defense against Grow, and because you Wish for your sideboard Capsize. Chapin Grow is the hardest match-up of all the vairents, because it keeps trying to be Grow rather than transforming into something else.
Capsize comes into the maindeck, games 2 and 3 vs Gro. Truth to tell, in all the matches I have tested against different Gro vairents (30 or so matches), I lost very few.
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